B.B. King, Buddy Guy make for an enticing double bill

If there are two more consistently satisfying blues performers than fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees B.B. King and Buddy Guy, it’s difficult for me to pinpoint who they are.

I’ve been fortunate to witness King in concert two dozen or so times over the years — and Guy at least half as many times — in clubs, concert halls, hotel ballrooms and sprawling amphitheaters. At their least inspired or most fatigued, both of which have been rare in my experience, they still have been superior (on a night-after-night basis) to most other artists I’ve seen in most other idioms. That’s why the opportunity to catch these two oft-copied American music giants sharing a stage Saturday ﻿at Harrah’s Rincon is so tantalizing. Put simply, seeing either King or Guy alone in concert ensures a memorable night. To have them perform, one after the other, is a double treat that should inspire both to soar even higher than usual.

King, who turns 85 in September, could have retired years ago with his “King of the Blues” crown intact. But this 14-time Grammy Award-winner is clearly not one to rest on his laurels, no matter how formidable they are. He’s scheduled to perform more than 40 concerts between now and mid-November, following a national tour in February and another coast-to-coast trek in the spring. In early 2006, he mounted a European “farewell” tour that was clearly premature, since he toured Europe again soon thereafter and as recently as last year.

True, King is a diabetic who now sits in a chair on stage while performing. He also engages in considerably more patter between-songs, even joking that newspaper reviews will report: “B.B. ﻿was pretty good, but he talked too much.”

But when he lets loose with his combustible voice and razor-sharp guitar playing, there’s no doubt he’s still a major force. A master of concision and eloquence, King is able to express more with one note than many guitarists do with several dozen. If his piercing solos come less frequently now, well, he makes each one count.

So does Guy, a five-time Grammy-winner and a comparative youngster at 74.

Known for his explosive instrumental attack, this Louisiana native delivers some of his best guitar work at whisper-soft volume levels. At least he does in front of an attentive audience. A few years ago at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay, an audience member’s oafish bellow of “Play your guitar, Buddy!” — which came in the midst of a wonderfully understated solo — prompted a dismayed Guy to abandon subtlety in favor of a series of near-sonic blasts.

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff plays the infield

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Jimmy Cliff is the only reggae artist other than the late Bob Marley to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This long-overdue honor was bestowed upon Cliff earlier this year in New York, where he was inducted alongside ABBA, Genesis, The Hollies and The Stooges.

That no other pioneering Jamaican music greats — The Skatalites, ﻿Lee “Scratch” Perry, ﻿Burning Spear, Toots & The Maytals ﻿— have been inducted does not reflect well on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, especially given how many lightweight pop performers have inexplicably been voted in through the years.

Cliff, happily, is anything but lightweight.

At 62, he is one of the most vital reggae innovators from the 1960s and ’70s who is still performing and recording today. His concert here Saturday, on the infield of the Del Mar Racetrack, is a must for both longtime followers and for young reggae and ska fans, to hear a master of the music in action.

Born James Chambers, Cliff helped define and then expand the parameters of reggae. One of the few Jamaican music stars who became a Muslim (he now ascribes to no specific religion), he has written classic songs that became hits for other artists, most notably Desmond Dekker’s “You Can Get It if You Really Want” and The Pioneers’ “Let Your Yeah Be Yeah.”

Cliff’s best-known song is probably the infectious title track from the 1972 film he starred in, “The Harder They Come,” which has since been covered everyone from Dekker, Jerry Garcia and Keith Richards to Joe Strummer, Widespread Panic and, um, Cher.

Another Cliff gem, “Many Rivers to Cross,” has been covered by UB40, Linda Ronstadt and Annie Lennox, while Cliff’s “Trapped” has long been a highlight of Bruce Springsteen’s concerts.

With a new album, “Existence,” due in the fall, Cliff shows no signs of coasting. Here’s hoping his concert includes his landmark 1970 song “Vietnam,” which no less an authority than Bob Dylan hailed at the time as “the greatest protest song ever written.”